1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid droplet discharge apparatus applied to image recording apparatus or the like which record images by discharging ink droplets from a recording head onto a recording medium that is retained and conveyed by a conveyor belt.
2. Description of the Related Art
In image recording apparatus of the inkjet format which record an image on paper by discharging ink from a recording head, a printing format called serial scanning, in which printing is conducted one line at a time by reciprocally moving the recording head in the direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the paper while conveying the paper, is widely used mainly for personal use.
Further, in recent years, image recording apparatus of the so-called full-line head format have become commercially available. Here, a non-scanning-type recording head is used which corresponds to the width of the paper and includes numerous nozzles that are arranged along the direction (width direction) orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the paper. An image is recorded while the paper is continuously conveyed, whereby the printing speed is improved, and office use can also be accommodated.
Incidentally, in two-sided printing mechanisms using such inkjet recording technology, when printing is conducted on one side of the paper, the ink on that side does not dry immediately thereafter, and when printing is to be conducted on the other side of the paper, conventionally printing on the other side of the paper is conducted after the ink on the one side of the paper dries. For this reason, different actions have been taken, such as setting the drying time and speeding up drying by lowering the printing density on the surface of the paper, but there have been instances where these actions have led to a decline in productivity and a decline in image quality.
For this reason, in Japanese Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. 2001-287873, a configuration is described where an inversion standby position is disposed at a position that does not interfere with a sheet of paper following a prior sheet of paper for which one-sided printing has ended. The switching of the conveyance path is done with a branch pawl, and in recording apparatus that conduct two-sided printing at a high speed, the undried ink may contact with the branch pawl or the conveyance path and soiling of the conveyance roll pairs can arise.